The present invention relates to a motor vehicle door hinge and particularly to a rear door hinge.
Certain motor vehicles, such as utility vehicles of the small van type, for example, are equipped with rear doors that can be moved between a closed position and an open position resting against the side of the body of the vehicle so as to completely uncover the loading platform and not protrude significantly from the width of this vehicle during the loading and unloading operations.
In order to allow the door to pivot between the two extreme positions, this door is equipped with a hinge which comprises a fixed knuckle mounted on the body of the vehicle, a moving knuckle mounted on the door, and an intermediate knuckle connected to each of the said knuckles via a hinge pin so as to allow the said door to pivot through about 250xc2x0.
The hinge comprises a blocking member cooperating with each of the pins to lock them in terms of rotation alternately and allow the successive pivoting of the moving knuckle about its pin through an angle of between 0 and 180xc2x0, then the pivoting of the assembly consisting of the intermediate knuckle and the moving knuckle about the pin of the fixed knuckle through an angle of between about 180 and 250xc2x0.
In the hinges hitherto used, the blocking member has been formed by a piece held on the intermediate knuckle by means of two screw-fastening elements which each pass through this piece via an oblong hole.
When the door is opened, the blocking member slides and successfully blocks the two pins by coming into contact with a flat formed on each of these pins so as, first of all, to allow the moving knuckle -to pivot by itself and then allow the assembly formed by the moving knuckle and the intermediate knuckle to pivot.
When the door is closed, the blocking member first of all blocks the pin of the moving knuckle so as to allow the assembly formed by the moving knuckle and the intermediate knuckle to pivot about the pin of the fixed knuckle and then blocks the pin of the fixed knuckle so as to allow only the moving knuckle to pivot about its pin.
Hitherto, rear doors have been equipped, in addition to hinges, with a stop system so as to hold them in the open position.
This independent stop system therefore leads to assembly operations which are in addition to those required for fitting the hinges and to an increase in the number of parts and thus in the cost.
The object of the invention is to avoid these drawbacks.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a motor vehicle rear door hinge of the type comprising:
a fixed knuckle mounted on the body of the vehicle,
a moving knuckle mounted on the rear door, which door is movable between a closed position and an open position resting against the side of the body,
an intermediate knuckle connected to each of the said knuckles by a hinge pin,
characterized in that this hinge comprises means for holding the rear door in a wide-open position.
According to other features of the invention:
the holding means are formed by a cam, one end of which is mounted articulated on the intermediate knuckle and the other end of which, on one of its lateral edges, has a notch cooperating, when the rear door is in the wide-open position, with a stop member supported by the fixed knuckle,
the lateral edge of the cam bearing the notch is held against the stop member by a pressing element cooperating with the opposite lateral edge of the said cam to the one bearing the said notch,
the stop member is formed by a fixed roller mounted so that it is free to rotate on a pin supported by the fixed knuckle,
the pressing element is formed by a moving roller mounted so that it is free to rotate on a support borne by the fixed knuckle, the said support being mounted so that it can pivot on a leg of the fixed knuckle and the said moving roller being held against the lateral edge of the cam by a spring acting on the said support,
the lateral edge of the cam in contact with the moving roller comprises a catch for holding the intermediate knuckle while the moving knuckle is pivoting about its pin.